Stephanie Cristello reviews the exhibition New Work from Kansas City at Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, on view through July 27, 2013. The show features works by Anne Lindberg, Kent Michael Smith, and Paul Anthony Smith.

Cristello writes: "While the exhibition speaks to themes of regionalism, the experience of looking at the three very distinct bodies of work, by three very conceptually and formally different artists, is varied and refreshing. Contrary to my expectations, the visual gaps between the bodies of work are celebrated in the gallery space in terms of installation, and are perhaps the exhibition’s greatest strength. The collection of predominantly large to medium scale works also propose a reversal to what one might expect – monumental sized drawings by Lindberg that are anything but preparatory, Kent Michael Smith’s deeply layered resin cast paintings that at first appear flat and graphic, and Paul Anthony Smith’s altered photographs that seem to be covered in glitter, though the effect is merely a simple material treatment of little tears in the surface of the paper."

In a review of the show (with more images) in the Kansas City Star, Dana Self writes: "Despite their varied media, generational differences and range of material application, the exhibition artists are linked through their devotion to systems of discovery and, of course, their Kansas City connections. Personal narrative, chaos, metaphysical ideas of the sublime and pure formal processes are the schema through which each artist deploys his or her own sense of self and place."

Artist Kate Beck blogs about the work of Anne Lindberg. In Lindberg's installations staples and Egyptian cottom thread become atmospheric masses of color. Beck writes: "Anne Lindberg procures line as an element configuring real space, making it universally sensible, plausible -- as drawing is." As in painting, these installations live through a convincing interplay between drawing and color.

Painters' Table

About Painters' Table

Edited by artist Brett Baker, Painters' Table highlights writing from the painting blogosphere as it is published and serves as a platform for exploring blogs that focus primarily on the subject of painting.